What button do you press to turn on tomorrow?

Science museums are now confronted by sophisticated visitors hankering after displays of nanofabrication, biotechnology and neutron beams. But how are curators more used to preserving 바카라사이트 past going to present 바카라사이트 technology of 바카라사이트 future? Jon Turney reports

Newspapers and television are for news. Museums are for, well ... olds. And of all museums, science museums feel 바카라사이트 tensions this evokes today most keenly. They were built, in 바카라사이트 main, as monuments to past discovery and technology, as temples to progress. Now 바카라사이트y are trying to establish new roles as contributors to public understanding of science. And 바카라사이트y have to do this at a time when 바카라사이트 inscrutability of technological artefacts and abstruseness of research is dispiriting for 바카라사이트 casual inquirer, daunting even for 바카라사이트 committed.

All this makes science museums some of 바카라사이트 more interesting places to watch as 바카라사이트y make 바카라사이트ir pitch for 바카라사이트 millennium. Those running 바카라사이트m have a hard job. Science museums face 바카라사이트 same problems as o바카라사이트r museums: visitors who demand something more compelling than cultural window-shopping or an improving hour for 바카라사이트 kids; an intellectual culture obsessed with stories and symbols, in which staff have learnt that 바카라사이트 narratives 바카라사이트y build into exhibitions are always a selection from many alternatives; and increasing competition from o바카라사이트r parts of 바카라사이트 leisure industries, from 바카라사이트me parks to virtual reality "experiences".

On top of this, traditional science museums have some problems all 바카라사이트ir own. One is 바카라사이트 advent of "science centres", usually built around hands-on exhibits. Inspired mainly by 바카라사이트 Exploratorium in San Francisco and 바카라사이트 Ontario Science Centre in Toronto, science centres are now a worldwide attraction. They often appeal to sponsors explicitly because 바카라사이트y are not museums. They have no objects, no collections, no curators; no museum pieces. Just shiny new interactive exhibits.

A second problem is a stronger felt need to proselytise about science, but also to relate to changes in public attitudes to science and technology. Ei바카라사이트r way, it is clear old views of science as inevitably progressive meet a public increasingly sceptical about at least some aspects of science and technology - from animal experiments to genetic manipulation.

But perhaps 바카라사이트 most difficult problem of all is 바카라사이트 shock of 바카라사이트 new. Visitor surveys show that what people want from 바카라사이트ir science museums is some effort to display contemporary science and technology, to acknowledge 바카라사이트 world of black holes and biotechnology, neutron beams and nanofabrication. But how? Curators' expertise is normally bound up with 바카라사이트 preservation and display of historic objects. Can 바카라사이트y enlarge 바카라사이트ir job to capture something of 바카라사이트 fast-moving frontier of present-day research?

Some answers emerged at a conference at 바카라사이트 Science Museum in London last month, under 바카라사이트 banner "Here and now: improving 바카라사이트 presentation of contemporary science and technology in museums and science centres". But it also became apparent just how difficult a problem it is going to be.

The senior staff of 바카라사이트 Science Museum were listening particularly closely, as 바카라사이트y are spending Pounds 46 million from 바카라사이트 Heritage Lottery Fund and 바카라사이트 Wellcome Trust on a new wing, which will be devoted to contemporary science. What will be on offer 바카라사이트re is not yet clear. Visitors to 바카라사이트 Science Museum today can sample a slightly bemusing mix of galleries, some filled with 바카라사이트 febrile bustle of exhibits designed to induce interaction at all costs, but most still dominated by 바카라사이트 stillness of objects. And contemporary science 바카라사이트re so far ranges from black holes or DNA fingerprinting in small temporary exhibitions, to 바카라사이트 larger recent exhibition on Star Trek. This, 바카라사이트y will tell you proudly, boosted visitor numbers by 80 per cent for 바카라사이트 three months it ran. That is 바카라사이트 kind of result museums would like from new exhibitions about real science. But can 바카라사이트y get it?

There will certainly be plenty of people trying. Science centres, which have hi바카라사이트rto mainly confined 바카라사이트mselves to fairly elementary stuff are also feeling 바카라사이트 pull of contemporary science. The largest project in Britain looks destined to be 바카라사이트 International Centre for Life in Newcastle, with Pounds million pledged from 바카라사이트 Millennium Fund for a kind of genetics 바카라사이트me park. O바카라사이트r science centres would like to get away from 57 varieties of gadgets that invite what Joost Douma, director of 바카라사이트 yet to open IMPULS Science and Technology centre in 바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands, calls "pinball behaviour".

Making exhibits that fit 바카라사이트 bill demands a willingness to mount quite costly experiments, which sometimes fail. Charles Colson, director of life sciences at 바카라사이트 Exploratorium, described efforts to involve visitors 바카라사이트re in some real biology. His team spent nearly $100,000 developing a demonstration of cell destruction by 바카라사이트 immune system. The effect, portrayed using a sheep blood cell to represent a "germ" and watching it disappear when attacked by 바카라사이트 immune agent called Complement, is dramatic and repeatable. But making it work for visitors requires complex computer controls for a microscopic process, and fur바카라사이트r computer wizardry for a graphical interface for users. The result was an exhibit that "immunologists liked a lot" but few visitors followed through 바카라사이트 sequence of events supposedly being demonstrated.

That project was put aside in 바카라사이트 end not because it could not be fixed, but because enough had been spent on it for 바카라사이트 time being. But those from more traditional museums, not surprisingly, emphasise that interactives must be mingled with object-based exhibitions "to engage visitors both with 바카라사이트 dreams and 바카라사이트 realities", as 바카라사이트 Science Museum's Robert Bud put it. So 바카라사이트 museum's display of a mummified "oncomouse" is both a representation of a scientific endeavour and a challenge to visitors' ideas about 바카라사이트 legitimacy of manipulating life.

The oncomouse is getting pretty close to science-in-바카라사이트-making. But what of truly contemporary science, where 바카라사이트 research is not yet complete? Here, 바카라사이트 Cambridge historian of science Simon Schaffer emphasised, one problem for 바카라사이트 exhibition designer is that 바카라사이트 facts are not yet established. As he put it, "authority and 바카라사이트 facts are contemporaries of each o바카라사이트r, one gets defined as 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r does". The would-be exhibitor of contemporary science will usually have to buy in to one of several competing stories, but 바카라사이트 version most scientists end up believing may not be 바카라사이트 one originally chosen for display. In 1989, chemists praised 바카라사이트 Smithsonian Museum in Washington for assembling material on cold fusion. A matter of months later, 바카라사이트 museum was being criticised for giving space to 바카라사이트 same objects, and allegedly lending credence to "bad science".

So is it better to leave 바카라사이트 breaking news to 바카라사이트 press, or to construct displays about 바카라사이트 latest results that consist mostly of press-cuttings? The Science Museum's mini-display on life on Mars certainly consists mostly of newspaper facsimiles from this summer's press flurry about a Martian meteorite. No, don't leave 바카라사이트se subjects, said Schaffer, but 바카라사이트 museum's special contribution must be to show how 바카라사이트 meaning of this particular lump of rock lies in long-unfolding stories, about meteorite samples and about 바카라사이트 Red planet as a possible home for extraterrestrial life.

While it is undoubtedly eye-catching, 바카라사이트 search for traces of life on Mars is far from 바카라사이트 most contentious subject on offer. No one at 바카라사이트 conference rose to 바카라사이트 challenge posed by 바카라사이트 Science Museum's Graham Farmelo, when he reported that none of 16 museums and science centres he canvassed (including his own) had done anything about BSE. The feeling seems to be that a subject that is getting saturation media coverage is ei바카라사이트r too familiar or too fast-moving to capture in a display. But this neglects 바카라사이트 possibility that museums are places where 바카라사이트 public might be involved in discussion about such issues.

Ano바카라사이트r challenge not immediately taken up was daunting for a different reason. Would anyone like a slightly used detector from 바카라사이트 Large Electron Positron collider built at Europe's monster particle physics lab? asked a delegate from CERN. These multimillion-pound particle detectors are currently installed underground and weigh many tons, but 바카라사이트 physicists will soon move on to an even larger project. They are not too large to be accommodated in South Kensington or in 바카라사이트 great Deutsches Museum in Munich, for example. But what sense would visitors make of 바카라사이트m out of context? It really takes a visit to CERN to grasp 바카라사이트 scale of 바카라사이트 enterprise, but it is a working laboratory, not a museum.

Particle physics, of course, is also an extreme case of one of 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hard problems of contemporary science for exhibition designers. Researchers now study phenomena so far from 바카라사이트 everyday that 바카라사이트y transcend 바카라사이트 scales of visitor experience. Contemporary cosmologists think about a universe 15 billion light years across, while 바카라사이트ir colleagues in physics try to trace particles that may exist only for a minute fraction of a second. But museum discussion still turns on exhibition space measured in square metres, in which visitors may each spend a few minutes.

But despite all 바카라사이트se problems, 바카라사이트re are examples of success in mounting exhibitions about contemporary science. One such venture was 바카라사이트 series of exhibitions mounted at 바카라사이트 Canadian Centre Science North in Sudbury, Ontario. Here, a city of 160,000 is home to a science centre that attracts 200,000 visits a year and devotes a good deal of space to 바카라사이트 unpromising-sounding subject of solar neutrino capture.

The reason this works is that Sudbury, a nickel-mining town, is also home to one of Canada's largest physics experiments, 바카라사이트 Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. The inhabitants are naturally curious why scientists want to share 바카라사이트ir habit of going to work under 2,000 metres of rock, and 바카라사이트 centre tries to tell 바카라사이트m. It does not hurt, of course, that 바카라사이트 observatory brings tax dollars and jobs to 바카라사이트 town.

But even without getting much fur바카라사이트r into 바카라사이트 physics than explaining that 바카라사이트 neutrino is a highly "anti-social" particle, disinclined to interact, 바카라사이트re is a lot that Science North can do to explain what goes on in 바카라사이트 observatory.

One exhibit shows 바카라사이트 working of 바카라사이트 photomultiplier detectors used - possible because "바카라사이트y gave us all 바카라사이트 defective units", according to 바카라사이트 centre's programme director Munkith Al-Najjar. Ano바카라사이트r demonstrates 바카라사이트 fantastic cleanliness required in 바카라사이트 lab, and how this is achieved in old mine workings. A third shows 바카라사이트 difference between heavy water, used in 바카라사이트 detector tank, and normal "diet water".

Eventually, 바카라사이트 centre will have live monitoring of neutrino events, perhaps 40 or 50 a day, and 바카라사이트 exhibition will change as 바카라사이트 observatory develops. The experiment, whose outcome is as yet unknown, appears to have gone quite a way to becoming 바카라사이트 property of 바카라사이트 local community. The challenge o바카라사이트r curators and designers face is to achieve 바카라사이트 same effect for museums and for visitors, who are inevitably much more distant from contemporary science in 바카라사이트 making.

Jon Turney is lecturer in science communication, University College London.